Sooo ... While some publications are crediting Steele as the author of the dossier - he merely lifted the hooker story from 4Chan and included it in his “report” - and now he’s in hiding.
I think this story might be starting to make sense.
According to the 4Chan posts, they made stuff up to as bait for R. Wilson-republican hack, who passed it to another political hack and possibly the IC was the one that gave it the spy twist.
At this point, there’s been no proof that this former MI6 agent actually provided any of this nonsense. We don’t know exactly all the details.
The prankster has hired a lawyer and promises full disclosure soon.